Throughout South Asia, homosexuality has been a taboo subject. There are signs in some areas that gay people are now becoming more open - but that is not always the case. In the latest in a series of articles from the region, Sutapa Mukerjee looks at a problematic lesbian relationship in South East Asia.

"It has been more than two weeks since we spoke and I haven't seen my partner for almost a month. Life is not the same for me anymore," says Usha Yadav.

Hailing from a middle class family, Usha first met her girlfriend Shilpi Gupta through a common friend a year back. Since that first meeting there was not a single day when they did not meet or talk to each other. But now the two lesbian lovers are not allowed to meet.

Shilpi's parents are keeping her under virtual house arrest and she is even barred from using the telephone.

Usha is 20, a graduate and up until recently had been working as a computer instructor. Shilpi is 22. Usha does not shy away from stating "it was love at first sight". She says it started when they began chatting and discovered they have the same way of thinking.

"Shilpi understood my problems and was very supportive. I started loving her. She wanted me to write to her and would often send back the letters after leaving lipstick marks on them as a token of love."

"It has been more than two weeks since we spoke and I haven't seen my partner for almost a month. Life is not the same for me anymore," says Usha Yadav.

Before long, the two could not stay away from each other even for a day. Usha believes there is no reason why she should feel guilty or ashamed of loving another of the same sex.

"I guess I am made differently. I have never felt any affinity for the opposite sex.”

"As a teenager I loved another girl from my class in school but we too were separated as her parents were transferred to a far-off town." Usha became angry when Shilpi was engaged to be married in mid-January.

"I hated the idea of her living with another. Shilpi too hated every bit of it, as she had no interest in the guy."

Shilpi's father says that she repeatedly turned down marriage proposals with men because of her "lesbian relationship with Usha Yadav".

This social pressure directed against the pair made them defiant.

"We decided to live together," confesses Usha.

But their elopement in January 2005 to a remote town in Gujarat proved to be short-lived.

Shilpi's parents lodged a complaint against Usha for "kidnapping" their daughter. They were produced before a magistrate in the city who ordered both to return to their parents. The police official dealing with the case, Sarvesh Kumar Mishra, said that the pair demanded the same cell and "shared a deep love".

Shilpi said they were no different from a married couple and that they would not be able to live without each other.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk